


Rewind

by phidari



Category: Kamen Rider W (Double)
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Case Fic, Dopants, Gen, Monster of the Week, POV Third Person Limited, Past Tense, Post-Episode: e038 Visitor X/In The Name Of The Museum, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2015-03-02
Packaged: 2018-02-21 20:53:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2482091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phidari/pseuds/phidari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thanks to a Dopant encounter, Philip has been de-aged. Forget taking on cases; the Narumi Detective Agency now has its hands full just looking out for him!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rewind the L / Miniature Partner

**Author's Note:**

  * For [girlnamedlance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlnamedlance/gifts).



> This was a prompt Lance left for me on Tumblr and I've only just now spat out something that's worth posting. There will probably be a second chapter, because this doesn't actually have an ending of any sort, but I can't make any estimates on when it will be written.

Shotaro's eyes snapped open. He pushed himself up off the ground and stumbled toward where his partner's fallen body lie. Being knocked out of transformation was rare; being knocked out of FangJoker was rarer. Just what kind of attack was that?

He froze in place when he saw who was lying there. It wasn't Philip—it was a kid of about eight dressed in white pajamas. That scraggly black hair looked familiar, though, and Fang was jumping up and down in front of the kid in concern. It couldn't be—

The Dopant spread its arms wide and laughed. "How do you like that? Don't worry—you'll be joining him shortly." It pointed one hand at Shotaro, but before it could fire its attack it was engulfed in flames. "ENGINE!" came the voice of a familiar Gaia Memory.

"Hidari!" Accel had leapt into the fray. "I'll hold him off. Take Philip and go!"

"Philip?" Shotaro looked back down at the unconscious boy. "This is Philip?!"

"I said go!"

He didn't have a choice. Shotaro scooped the child up and booked it back toward the Narumi Detective Agency.

* * *

Akiko sat on the side of the bed in the alcove, beside the young boy who was now tucked in under a blanket. He had been asleep the entire time, but now Shotaro could hear Akiko calling out, "He woke up! Shotaro, hurry, hurry!"

Shotaro nearly knocked a stack of paperwork off his desk in his rush over to the bed. Sure enough, the boy's eyes were open and he was looking around curiously.

"Philip, thank goodness!" Akiko exclaimed.

"You okay, partner?" Shotaro asked.

The boy just stared at the both of them.

"...Philip?"

The boy blinked. He sat up, rubbing at his eyes in a very childish manner. "Where am I? This isn't the Gaia Memory laboratory. And you don't work for the syndicate." He glared from Shotaro to Akiko in turn.

Akiko let out a piercing shriek. Shotaro's jaw dropped. "No way. You don't remember us?!"

"I've never seen you before." Philip pushed the blanket off of himself and stood up. He looked around the office in confusion. "What kind of place is this?"

"This is a detective agency. The Narumi Detective Agency!" Akiko pointed to herself. "And I'm the beautiful chief, Akiko Narumi! You and Shotaro are detectives here."

"Detectives?" The boy only looked more confused at that.

"Yeah! Don't you know what a detective is?"

He shook his head.

Akiko's lip wobbled. "Shotaro, what are we doing to do?"

"I don't know." Shotaro sighed. He leaned against his desk and folded his arms over his chest. "This doesn't make sense. The Old Memory didn't affect Philip and it didn’t make me think I was _actually_ an old man. So why—"

"Because the Rewind Memory functions differently," came Terui's voice from the Agency door.

Shotaro glanced over at him, eyes narrowed. "Rewind?"

"That's apparently the name of the Memory." Terui shut the door behind himself. "It doesn't alter the victim's age in the same way the Old Memory does. Instead, it completely rewinds its target to some arbitrary point in its past. Physically, and mentally." His eyes landed on Philip.

Shotaro's eyes followed Terui's. "Oi! What the heck?" Philip was standing stock-still with his head bowed, eyes closed, and arms outstretched to his sides.

"Are you looking that Memory up, Philip?" Akiko asked.

"I see," Philip replied. "So that's what a detective is." He opened his eyes. "In which case, I am not a detective." He started toward the door.

"Whoa, whoa." Shotaro grabbed his arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Back to the syndicate. I have to return to work."

The three adults in the room exchanged a worried glance. If Philip thought he still worked for Museum, he'd go running straight back to them. That was the last thing anyone needed.

Akiko grinned. "Didn't you hear? Today's your day off!"

"Day off?" Philip frowned in confusion.

"Uh-huh! You don't have to work today. So you can stay here with us."

"That's stupid. I've never had a day off."

"Well, there's a first time for everything!"

"And furthermore, I don't want or need a day off." He yanked his arm out of Shotaro's grasp and strode toward the door. "I just want to see more Gaia Memories."

"Philip—" Shotaro started.

"And quit calling me that. My name isn't Philip."

Terui was the only one who was lacking enough in context to bother asking, "What is your name, then?"

The boy stopped in his tracks at that question. He stared up at Terui blankly. Then his face fell. "I'm going back to work."

"Philip, wait!" Akiko shoved Shotaro out of her way. He went sprawling over his desk as she rushed over to stop Philip.

"Akiko, dammit!"

But Akiko wasn't listening. She crouched in front of Philip and held the Joker Memory out toward him. "I bet you've never seen a Gaia Memory like this one before, huh?"

Shotaro pushed himself to his feet and stormed over to her. "Hey, what's the big—"

Philip snatched Joker out of her hand, eyes wide in fascination. "Incredible! Who made this Memory?" He looked up at each of the adults in turn. "Where did you get it?!"

Akiko shook a finger at Philip. "If you want to know that, you'll have to stay here with us."

He wasn't listening to her anymore, though. He was too busy pushing the button on the front over and over again. The Gaia Memory's call of "JOKER! JOKER! J-J-JOKER!" resounded throughout the office.

"So, what do we do?" Akiko asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We have to beat that Dopant," Shotaro pointed out. "He should go back to normal after that."

"You mean _I_ have to beat that Dopant,” Terui retorted. "You can't go into battle without Philip, and right now he's in no state to transform."

"Ah, damn it." Shotaro scowled. He knew Terui was correct, but just sitting around didn't sit right with him. He had to do _something_.

"...isn't Philip being kind of quiet all of a sudden?" Akiko wondered. They hadn't heard Joker say anything for nearly a minute. The three of them glanced over to where the boy had been.

He was gone, and the door was wide open.

"Dammit." Shotaro grabbed his hat and rushed after his shrunken partner.

* * *

The Child of Fate blinked as he emerged from the billiards hall. He'd read about sunlight, but experiencing it in person was different. He had to wait a few moments for his eyes to adjust.

Once they had, he was on his way down the sidewalk. The Gaia Memory he'd been given was safely located in his pocket. Now he only had to find his way back to the facility where he lived. He had important work to do, more Gaia Memories to create. If he was gone for too long then surely he'd be in trouble.

Now if only he knew which way to go. This city was completely unfamiliar to him. And without knowing the name of the city, or the name of the syndicate he worked for—that information was irrelevant to his work, after all—how was he to look up where to go?

So he wandered.

He stepped off the sidewalk and began to cross the street. An unpleasant screeching sound drew his attention, and he turned just in time to see a large vehicle bearing down on him. He froze, eyes wide in fear.

A mechanical roaring sound came from nearby. Something grabbed the boy by the back of his pajamas and dragged him out of the street. It dumped him on the sidewalk. Blinking and pushing his hair out of his face, the boy looked around in confusion. There, standing before him, was a tiny object that looked almost like a toy dinosaur. Except it was moving all on its own.

A grin spread across the boy's face. "How intriguing."

"Aw, jeez. There you are." Shotaro came rushing across the street and crouched beside the boy. "You okay?"

He didn't respond. He just picked the little dinosaur up and marveled at it. "What is this thing?"

"That? That's Fang." The boy was too entranced by Fang to struggle as Shotaro helped him to his feet and led him back to the office. "It's one of our Gaia Memories."

"I've never seen one like this before!" The boy couldn't stop grinning even if he'd wanted to. "Who created it?"

Shotaro sighed. Terui really needed to get off his ass and defeat that Dopant.


	2. Rewind the L / I Want To Go Home

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> nope i lied this is gonna be more than 2 chapters oops

Philip couldn't get enough of Fang. He chased the little dinosaur Memory around the office, up on shelves, under the bed—wherever it could lead him. At one point Shotaro had to scoop him up off the dresser and deposit him back on the floor, but all in all the kid being distracted like this made it easier for him to work.

Akiko had gone out to gather information, and Shotaro was sitting pretty in the office because _somebody_ had to keep the doors open for potential clients. Which, basically, consisted of sitting at his desk and catching up on typing up old reports.

After a few minutes of silence, Shotaro grew suspicious and glanced over at Philip. He was sitting on the bed, folding Fang into its Gaia Memory form and then unfolding it back into dinosaur form. He pressed the button on the front and it called out, "FANG!" Shotaro shook his head and adjusted his hat. At least the kid was entertained.

Or so he thought.

Abruptly, Philip dropped Fang and got to his feet. Fang jumped up onto his shoulder. "I've thoroughly examined the Fang Memory," he announced. "I'll be taking it with me back to the syndicate."

"Oh, no you don't." Shotaro got to his feet and took a couple of steps toward Philip. A couple of steps was all he got, though, because he had enough sense to stop in his tracks when Fang roared at him.

"I've gathered that this Gaia Memory will protect me. Don't try to stop me." With that warning, Philip turned and started for the door.

"Hey— wait! Fang, he's not in his right mind!" Shotaro protested.

But Fang just nestled in on Philip's shoulder.

"Ah, jeez..." This was going to hurt a lot, but it had to be done. Shotaro strode after Philip and grabbed his shoulder.

Fang roared again and jumped up in his face. Shotaro lost his grip on Philip and went stumbling back, giving Philip the opportunity to pull open the door and make a break for it.

"Philip! Stop!" But Fang attacked again, sending Shotaro sprawling to the floor.

"Fang!" Philip called from the hallway. "Come with me."

With one last warning roar in Shotaro's face, Fang rushed off after its master. By the time Shotaro got to his feet and out into the hall, the boy and his Gaia Memory were gone.

* * *

"You lost Philip?!" Akiko screeched.

Shotaro held his phone away from his ear, cringing in pain. "Fang's on his side. What was I supposed to do?"

"Um, not let the grade-school-age kid get away from you? Some employee _you_ are."

"Don't worry, I'm out searching for him." He'd locked up the office and was on the beat. Luckily he'd thought to grab a picture of the younger Philip with Bat Shot before he'd vanished. "I have to go. I need to pay attention to people who aren't angry screeching landlords."

"Excuse me?!"

Shotaro flipped his phone shut and held up the photo of Philip he'd taken.

Watcherman rubbed his chin in thought. "Hmm, it's hard to say. This kid looks a lot like that partner of yours, Sho-chan, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, I know. Philip's, uh, actually the one who sent me to find him. So have you seen him or not?"

Watcherman gazed at the photo for another long moment, but then he shook his head. "Sorry! Haven't seen him. Now, as for you, I believe you promised me an interview for my blog—"

"It'll have to wait." Shotaro tipped his hat and started off down the sidewalk again. "This is important!"

He couldn't lose Philip.

* * *

The boy who everybody insisted on calling "Philip" laid on his back in the middle of a park and stared blankly up at the sky. Fang stood beside him, keeping a vigilant eye out. Nobody would dare approach its charge right now.

Nothing made sense. Those strange outsiders insisted they knew him, insisted he was somebody he wasn't. If they had kidnapped him to exploit him somehow, it would make sense. But they didn't seem interested in that. He couldn't fathom what they could possibly be after.

The world outside his dim, busy laboratory was starting to overwhelm him. He just wanted to go home.

Maybe he could find something in the Gaia Library. He still didn't know where he was or what keyword to look up to find the lab again, but those strangers had given him _something_ , at least.

The boy closed his eyes, and a second later his spirit had left his body behind to inhabit the blank white space that was the Library. For a moment he paused, just looking around at all of the bookshelves. At least this was something familiar.

Finally he stated, "Beginning lookup. Keywords: Narumi Detective Agency. Akiko Narumi. Shotaro." The shelves narrowed themselves down until only a few books remained hovering in the space around him. He picked one at random and flipped it open.

"Founded by Sokichi Narumi..." he murmured. His voice trailed off as he took in the information written there. It was actually a legitimate detective agency, albeit one with a rich history of finding lost pets and hunting down Gaia Memory users. So then perhaps he'd been abducted because the detectives there wanted him to stop producing Memories. Fat chance of that.

He finished that book and grabbed for another. Before he could take it, though, another hand plucked it away from him.

A woman stood there dressed in all black, tall and forboding, a wavy ponytail cascading down one shoulder. "Well, well," she said. "What do we have here?"

* * *

A neighborhood woman had seen Philip sitting in Fuuto Park. Shotaro thanked her and made his way there as quickly as he could—even if that included jaywalking and cutting through people's yards.

His heart skipped a beat when he finally found him lying there in plain sight. He breathed a sigh of relief and jogged across the grass. Fang roared, but Shotaro didn't stop until he was only a couple of feet away from Philip. That damn dinosaur wasn't going to stop him this time.

He crouched down. "Philip?"

Philip didn't answer. His eyes were closed in a sort of concentration Shotaro was all too familiar with. Sighing, Shotaro plucked his hat off of his head and shook out his hair. He'd just have to wait for him to get out of the Library—which could take ages. For now, he took a seat on the grass and pulled out his phone to inform Akiko the mission was a success.

"Aha!" came a voice. Shotaro glanced around in confusion. There, several yards away, stood a man. He was fairly nondescript; not too tall or too short, a little pudgy, balding. He looked in every respect like an average businessman. And he was grinning manically. "She told me I'd find you here, Kamen Rider!"

Eyes narrowing, Shotaro got to his feet. He was careful to keep himself between the strange man and Philip. "Who are you?"

"You don't remember?" He pulled something out of his pocket and twirled it between his fingers. As he approached, Shotaro could see that it was a Gaia Memory with an R on the front stylized to look like the hands on a clock.

"You're the one who wiped my partner's memory!" Shotaro shouted.

"Yes, and you'll be following him." The man pressed the button on the Memory. "REWIND!" it announced, and he shoved it into his neck. "This morning was self-defense, but now I'm acting on orders from my supervisor. Nothing personal."

"Yeah, right." Instinctively Shotaro reached for the Double Driver, but he paused. There was no way he could use it now. His eyes flicked down to Fang. "You'd better earn your keep, you irritating little..."

"Do away with him, Asahara. I'll be taking Raito back with me." This new voice was familiar. Shotaro whirled around to see somebody approaching from the other side of the park.

"Princess Wakana..." Talk about out of the frying pan. She must have sensed Philip in the Gaia Library, Shotaro realized. "Philip, wake up! We have to get out of here!"

The boy stirred, eyes finally cracking open. When he saw Shotaro he scrambled to his feet and took several steps backward, toward Wakana.

"Philip, no, she's—"

"She's with the syndicate," Philip finished. "She told me she'd be coming to take me home."

"Damn it..." Of course Philip would leap at that chance in his current state. Shotaro stepped toward Philip, but a projectile from Rewind barely grazed his leg, reminding him that he had something else to focus his attention on right now.

With Shotaro momentarily distracted, Philip rushed over to Wakana and hid behind her back.

"Kill him or de-age him, whichever you prefer," Wakana told Rewind. "We have no use for him."

"Heh." The Dopant took several menacing steps toward Shotaro. He pointed his hand right at Shotaro. "Enjoy your second childhood, Kamen Rider."

He jumped to the side, dodging the blast of rewind energy that came. When he righted himself, Wakana and Philip were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear this isn't abandoned, things have just been really... *waves hand noncommittally*


	3. Rewind the L / The Old Lady on the Playground

Shotaro wasn't exactly a pushover outside of transformation, but even his mean left hook wasn't a match for a Dopant. All he could do was duck, dodge, and keep an eye out for a way to escape from this situation. He was sure he was done for until the sound of a motorcycle revving reached his ears.

Ryu Terui's bike ramped over a hill and crashed right into the Rewind Dopant. Terui leapt off and landed on his feet, Accel Driver in hand.

"You— when?" Shotaro babbled.

"We received a report of a Dopant attacking a civilian," Terui replied brusquely. "Now get out of here, Hidari. You're useless right now."

"Ouch." But Shotaro knew he was right. Steadying his fedora atop his head, he made a run for it.

The Dopant struggled to its feet. "Get back here!"

But Terui stood between it and Shotaro's retreating figure. "I'm your opponent." He set the Accel Driver at his waist and pulled out the Accel Memory. "Trans... form!"

The last thing Shotaro saw before he ducked out of sight was Accel's Engine Blade connecting with the Dopant.

* * *

"So you want to relive your childhood as well?" the Dopant taunted Accel.

"Don't ask me questions." Terui swung his blade again, sending sparks flying when it sliced across the Dopant's chest.

The Dopant charged up a bolt of energy in one hand, but Accel managed to dodge aside before it could throw it at him. He swung his blade again, and dodged again, and a tree behind him suddenly found itself once more a sapling.

This was getting irritating. This was twice in one day that he'd had to bail Hidari out of a jam. There wasn't going to be a third time.

He yanked the Accel Memory out of his Driver and grabbed Trial. But as he folded the Memory into shape to insert it, he was left vulnerable. The Dopant lunged and knocked Accel to the ground, sending both Memories flying.

"Damn it—!"

But before Accel could push himself back up, Rewind was on top of him. "Remember to stay in school," he sneered.

* * *

It felt like Akiko had asked everyone in Fuuto whether or not they'd seen Philip. Not only that, but this was the fifth playground she'd been to looking for him. Kids liked playgrounds, right? She wouldn't really know; whenever she went to playgrounds as a kid it was always to trade trading cards or sell lemonade. But normal kids—no, make that _less dedicated_ kids—loved playgrounds, she was pretty sure.

"Except that Philip is a pretty dedicated kid," Akiko mused to herself. She took a seat on a swing and moped. How was she ever going to find such a small boy in a city like this? Especially one who was probably going out of his way to avoid being found. He could already be back with the Sonozakis for all she knew.

"Do you like swinging, lady?"

"L-lady?!" Akiko looked up sharply. There was a boy standing in front of her... but no, it wasn't Philip. He looked about nine, with clean-cut brown hair, dressed mostly in red. He was fixing a strangely intense gaze upon her.

"You're kind of old for swingsets," he pointed out.

Akiko pouted. "I'm a beautiful maiden of twenty-one, I'll have you know!"

"Old lady."

"Why you...!"

Before she could sort through the urge to strangle this brat, he started laughing. Akiko's cheeks puffed out in annoyance.

"I don't really care," the boy said with an irritating grin on his face. "You just look funny. What _are_ you doing there, though?"

Akiko sighed. She reached into her bag and pulled out the photo of Philip in his white pajamas. "Hey, have you seen this kid? I'm looking for him."

The boy examined the picture, then shook his head. "Are you his mom?"

"Hey—!"

He laughed again. "I mean, big sister?"

Akiko shook her head. "I'm a detective. His..." How to explain this...? "His family is looking for him."

"Oh..." That seemed to cut through the young boy's jovial nature.

Akiko couldn't help smiling gently. He probably had family members he cared deeply for. Maybe a younger sibling or two. Of course he would understand.

"Okay, detective lady, I'll help you look for him."

"Eh, really?" She grinned. "Okay! But it's not detective lady, it's Akiko Narumi. Or you can call me Big Sis."

"Right, right." The boy yanked the photo out of her hand. "And you can call me Ryu."

"Ryu...?"

"Yeah. Ryu Terui."

What with the bloodcurdling shriek Akiko unleashed just then, Ryu could probably be forgiven for second-guessing his offer to help.

* * *

The Child of Fate stared around himself in awe at the mansion he'd been brought to. Compared to the lab where he lived, and even to the detective agency he'd briefly stayed at today, this place was astounding. The boy wanted to look at everything, to pick things up and examine them, but Wakana held tight to his hand as she led him up a grand flight of stairs.

They paused as a small, fuzzy grey creature padded its way down the stairs toward them. It looked up at the Child of Fate, sniffing curiously, and then wound its way through his legs.

Wakana laughed. "Oh, Raito, Mick missed you!"

"Mick?" The boy stared down blankly at the animal.

The creature called Mick rubbed its face incessantly against the boy's leg. A low, monotonous sound like that of a motor emanated from its body. It had missed him? But he'd never seen this creature before. Still, it was fairly interesting. He gathered the fat animal up into his arms and the motor-like sound intensified.

Wakana led the boy the rest of the way up the stairs and into a room with a few bookshelves up against the walls. That detail was what he noticed first, anyway. The rest of the space was occupied by a couple of chairs, some tables and shelves containing various non-book objects, and a desk at which an older man was sitting.

The boy froze in place. Mick yowled and flailed his way to the floor, where he scampered out of the room.

The man looked up. He smiled broadly. "Well, well! You were right all along, Wakana."

Wakana tensed up. "Of course I was, Father. I told you that I sensed Raito in the Gaia Library, and when I found him..." She gestured to the boy. "It's a result of the Rewind Memory. As a result, he was only too happy to come with me."

The man got to his feet and circled around the desk. He smiled down at the Child of Fate. "Ah, it seems you recognize me. Do you know who I am?"

The boy stared up at him, unblinking. He took a half-step back behind Wakana. All he could say was, "Terror."


End file.
